• She 
TASK 
► GOLDEN  !? 


QUAYLE 


PS 


A 


INTERCHURCH  WORLD  MOVEMENT 
of  - NORTH  AMERICA  n 

I11FIFTH  AVENUE -NEW -YORK:  CITY 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2017  with  funding  from 
Columbia  University  Libraries 


https://archive.org/details/taskgoldenOOquay 


The  Task  Golden 


BY 

WILLIAM  A.  QUAYLE 


INTERCHURCH  WORLD  MOVEMENT 
OE  NORTH  AMERICA 
hi  Fifth  Avenue,  New  York  City 


Price,  s cents  each;  50  cents  per  dozen 
$2.75  per  hundred 


The  Task  Golden 

By  William  A.  Quayle 

JT  IS  worth  while  to  be  in  the  great  Church 

of  the  great  God,  steering  for  a great 
eternity.  To  get  hold  of  a thing  that  is  big 
enough  to  get  hold  of  us  is  magnificent,  but  to 
go  winking  and  blinking  around  about  little 
things  is  not  worth  the  winks  and  the  blinks. 
To  get  hold  of  the  sea  and  tuck  your  fingers 
into  its  mane,  and  to  feel  it  leap  and  fight, 
and  to  hold  your  seat  and  ride  it  to  the  shore! 
That  is  worth  while ! But  who  is  going  to  keep 
us  to  our  immortality?  Who  is  going  to  keep 
us  to  our  greatness?  Who  is  going  to  look 
after  our  vastnesses,  and  tell  us  with  insistent 
voice  that  we  are  sublime  ? Who  is  going  to 
tell  us  that  death  does  not  count,  if  we  live  a 
right  life?  To  point  the  finger  at  the  majesty 
we  are  and  the  majesty  we  are  to  be? 

Looking  After  Our  Immortality 

There  are  many  to  help  us  look  after  our 
mortality — the  grocer  will  help  us,  and  the 
doctor,  and  shoe  merchant,  and  statesman 
and  educator— all  these  and  more  will  help  us. 
But  who  is  going  to  help  us  to  look  God- 
ward  ? Who  is  going  to  help  us  to  look  after 
our  everlastingness  ? The  preacher.  He  is 
the  man  who  will  help  us.  He  is  the  man  to 
keep  us  in  tune  with  the  infinite.  He  is  the 
man  who,  though  he  may  not  be  the  most 
learned,  has  heard  in  his  own  heart  the  death- 
less music,  and  pitches  the  tune  for  us;  for 
what  people  need  is: 


5 


THE  TASK  GOLDEN 


The  Tune  of  Everlastingness 

When  men  say:  “Preach  on  the  things  of 
the  day;  on  things  that  people  are  thinking 
about  during  the  week,”  I never  do;  because 
folks  think  of  those  things  themselves  and  do 
not  need  my  help.  So  on  Sunday  I take  up 
the  harp  of  life  and  smite  its  strings  with  what 
little  might  I have,  and  try  to  make  men  dream 
of  deathlessness.  For  the  thing  the  preacher 
is  after  is  to  get  hold  of  men’s  souls,  that  they 
may  know  that  life  leads  a long  distance  and 
that  the  run  is  very  far,  and  very  glorious. 

O my  soul,  canst  thou  make  the  run? 
Canst  thou  win  the  race?  Who  is  going  to 
get  thee  to  the  summit  of  the  sky,  and  back 
behind  the  stars  ? Who  is  going  to  get  thee 
over  where  the  angels  stay;  where  Christ 
walks  the  road  every  day  and  brings  a morn- 
ing to  every  shadowy  night?  Who  is  going 
to  get  thee  there  ? It  is  the  preacher  who  will 
help  you,  and  so  the  preacher  is  the  most 
manifest  majesty  of  all  men. 

Preachers 

Think  of  the  men  you  have  had  preach  to 
you;  who  lifted  you  up  until  you  fell  on 
the  Outstretched  Hand,  and  caught  the  foot 
of  the  cross  of  God.  Men  utterly  human 
and  grandly  divine.  One  such  preacher 
came  to  me,  put  his  hand  on  my  shoulder 
and  said,  “God  wants  you.”  And  I came 
up  the  aisle  of  the  schoolhouse;  not  to  the 
chancel— there  wasn’t  any — only  the  diction- 
ary— and  bowed  there.  The  wjnd  was  wild 


6 


THE  TASK  GOLDEN 


that  night!  It  was  as  stormy  as  the  wide 
sea,  the  storm  that  beat  upon  that  prairie 
schoolhouse.  It  blew  as  it  did  on  the  Sea 
of  Galilee.  But  Christ  walked  on  the  Sea 
and  came  to  me  and  said,  “My  boy,  what  do 
you  want?”  And  I said,  “I  want  Thee,  O 
Christ.”  And  he  said,  “Lo,  I am  here!” 

Talking  of  God  in  Dreams 

There  isn’t  anybody  who  ever  drew  breath, 
who  can  wing  the  arrow  of  golden  words 
beautiful  enough  for  the  preachers  of  God. 
Though  they  have  small  salaries  and  large 
families  and  few  belongings  and  scant  wealth, 
they  have  God.  In  their  dreams  they  talk 
about  God.  Said  an  aged  minister,  “I  am 
old,  and  have  been  retired  for  years,  and 
cannot  preach;  but  sometimes  in  the  night 
I awaken  myself  from  sleep  because  I dream 
that  I am  preaching;”  and  his  voice  was  as 
wistful  as  a mother’s  calling  the  name  of  her 
dead  daughter.  If  you  ever  heard  that  you 
will  never  forget  it. 

Thank  God  for  the  preachers  who  thought 
so  little  of  themselves  because  they  thought 
so  much  of  Christ!  Thank  God  for  the 
preachers  who  visit  everybody,  and  do  not 
know  that  there  are  lowly  people  in  the  world 
and  think  that  there  are  only  high  people, 
because  Christ  died  for  all;  who  say  to  every- 
one, “Brother,  Christ  spoke  your  name  in 
my  ear  and  He  said  that  He  knew  you.  Come 
over  to  Him,  come  over!” 


7 


THE  TASK  GOLDEN 


Climbing  the  Stairs 

I was  a guest  in  a preacher’s  home.  His 
wife  was  a minister’s  daughter,  and  soon  we 
were  talking  about  her  father  and  mother, 
and  she  told  me  a sweet  and  beautiful  story: 
Her  mother  was  dying  with  inflammatory 
rheumatism,  and  they  moved  her  from  room 
to  room  down-stairs,  because  the  pain  was  so 
terrible  that  she  could  not  remain  long  in 
one  place.  One  day  she  asked  to  be  taken 
up-stairs,  and  her  daughter  said,  “Mother, 
we  cannot  take  you  up-stairs;  the  doctor 
says  that  the  least  jar  might  send  the  rheu- 
matism to  your  heart.  You  would  die  on 
the  stairs.”  But  she  would  not  turn  back 
and  panted  her  way  up-stairs  to  a little 
room  with  only  one  small  window;  and  when 
they  expostulated  with  her  for  taking  the 
poorest  room  in  the  house  she  smiled. 

The  Little  Attic  Window 

The  next  day  was  Sunday,  and  the  little 
window  looked  straight  back  through  the 
church  to  the  pulpit  so  that,  while  lying  in 
bed  propped  up  on  the  pillows,  she  could 
see  her  husband  come  into  the  pulpit  and 
preach.  She  had  climbed  the  stairs  in  jeopardy 
of  her  life  that  she  might  see  her  husband 
climb  into  the  pulpit,  stand  behind  the  holy 
desk  and  open  the  Holy  Book;  and  she  lay 
there  smiling.  The  next  morning  through 
that  attic  window  she  saw  the  Great  White 
Throne  and  heard  her  Saviour’s  welcome, 
“ Well  done.” 


8 


THE  TASK  GOLDEN 


O Church  of  our  supreme  love,  watch  your 
minister  climb  into  the  pulpit  and  open  the 
Holy  Book!  Climb  the  stairs  with  him  and, 
peradventure,  he  will  so  open  the  truth  of 
God  that  mortality  shall  be  swallowed  up 
of  life,  things  little  shall  look  large,  and  the 
glory  of  God  shall  come  into  your  heart. 
Follow  your  preacher  into  the  pulpit  so  that 
he  may  know  that  somebody  is  hungry  to 
see  him  and  hear  him  and  love  him.  And 
by  and  by,  when  he  is  clean  tired  out,  give 
him  a chance  to  rest  awhile,  and  say  to  him: 
“ Beloved,  sit  down  and  wait  a while,  until 
you  are  summoned  to  climb  the  stairs  into 
the  arms  of  God.” 

The  Lost  Word 

A story  by  Henry  Van  Dyke,  “The  Lost 
Word,”  tells  that  in  the  early  Christian  days 
a man  of  superior  ability  and  accomplishment 
turned  his  back  on  God  and  went  his  own  way. 
Then  came  a time  when  his  child  was  dying, 
and  he  groped  for  a word — a great  healing, 
helpful  word,  but  he  couldn’t  catch  it.  If 
he  could  command  it,  he  could  have  his 
child  and  happiness  back  again.  So  he  went 
around  crying,  “The  Lost  Word!  The  Lost 
Word!”  At  last,  when  his  strength  was 
spent,  and  he  could  cry  no  more,  there  came 
a man  of  God,  who  leaned  over  and  whispered, 
“The  name  is  ‘Christ.’”  The  lost  word  was 
“Christ.”  Yes,  and  the  lost  word  still  is 
“Christ” — and  it  is  the  minister  who  tells 
it  to  us.  This  is  The  Task  Golden. 


9 


THE  TASK  GOLDEN 


We  are  not  seeking  for  the  preacher  an 
easy  old  age.  We  are  trying  to  give  him  a 
vigorous,  undistracted  young  age,  in  which  to 
teach  and  preach  and  live  the  gospel.  He  is 
the  propagator  of  immortality  and  the 
guardian  of  morality.  There  is  no  might 
known  to  history  that  can  keep  the  republic 
alive  but  the  gospel,  and  there  is  only  one 
ground  that  can  grow  permanent  virtue — 
that  is  the  Church  of  God.  We  have  the 
brains;  but  brains  never  kept  the  world 
alive,  never  made  anyone  worthily  great. 
It  is  virtue  that  rules  the  world;  and  the 
church’s  business  is  to  help  men  to  be  good. 
Righteousness  is  the  price  the  world  must 
pay  for  life.  Love  and  goodness  alone  will 
keep  it  alive,  and  God  is  to  make  the  world 
good  through  the  church,  by  the  preacher. 
The  future  as  well  as  the  present  needs  virtue, 
needs  God,  for  glorious  virtue  is  necessary 
to  the  continuance  of  democracy.  There  is 
one  institution  alone  whose  sole  business  is 
to  keep  the  world  living  in  virtue — the  Church 
of  God;  and  for  this  task  the  preacher  is  the 
church’s  Indispensable  Man.  His  is  The 
Task  Golden. 


10 


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